"Why no government murderers, robbers, or perverts on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list?"

WASHINGTON, DC -- The most shocking thing about the FBI's new "10 Most Wanted" list is all the dangerous criminals who are not on it: The criminals who just happen to work for the federal government, the Libertarian Party said today.

"From murder to kidnapping to sexual assault -- many government employees have committed what would be considered heinous crimes if perpetrated by ordinary citizens," said Steve Dasbach, the party's national director. "But curiously, none of those government desperados made it onto the FBI's list."

On Monday, the FBI released the latest edition of its famous 10 Most Wanted list, which included a frightful line-up of murderers, international terrorists, robbers, and bombers.

And that's good, said Dasbach: "Every person on that list who committed a crime of violence should be punished; justice demands it. But justice also demands that everyone who commits a crime of violence be treated equally -- even if they happen to be a politician, the head of a federal agency, or a government bureaucrat."

With that in mind, Dasbach offered a Libertarian version of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list: Government criminals who weren't on the list, but should be.

1. U.S. Customs Commissioner Raymond Kelly. Crime: Accessory to sexual assault. "Last year, U.S. Customs employees under Kelly's command ordered 2,797 international airline passengers to strip off their clothes at gunpoint, intimately groped them, and conducted humiliating body cavity searches," said Dasbach. "Ordinary Americans who behave this way are called sex criminals, but Customs inspectors who behave like perverts are given promotions."

2. Justice Department Asset Forfeiture Division Chief Jerry McDowell. Crime: Grand larceny. "Last year, the Justice Department confiscated 42,454 cars, boats, houses, and other belongings -- valued at over $604 million -- from Americans who were never convicted of any crime," said Dasbach. "That's theft on a mind-boggling scale, and makes Jerry McDowell one of the criminal masterminds of the century."

3. Marine Corporal Clemente Banuelos. Crime: Murder. "In 1997, Banuelos and three fellow Marines on an anti-drug patrol in Redford, Texas, gunned down 18-year-old Ezequiel Hernandez as he was herding goats near the Mexican border," noted Dasbach. "Why is cold-blooded murder not considered murder when committed by someone wearing a Marine Corps insignia?"

4. President Bill Clinton. Crime: International terrorism. "Osama bin Laden made the FBI's list for killing 224 people in embassy bombings -- yet Clinton has killed literally thousands of innocent civilians during his undeclared and unconstitutional war in Yugoslavia," said Dasbach. "That kind of mass murder of innocents should not go unpunished by a civilized nation."

5. Former NHTSA director Joan Claybrook. Crime: Accessory to murder. "As head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the 1970s, Claybrook forced automakers to install air bags, many of which have malfunctioned and exploded, killing 115 people," said Dasbach. "If Death-by-Regulation isn't a crime, it should be -- and Claybrook should be the first person prosecuted."

6. Social Security Commissioner Kenneth S. Apfel. Crime: Investment fraud. "If an ordinary American did what Apfel and his Social Security co-conspirators do -- run a retirement program where the only assets are billions of dollars of IOUs -- they would be in jail faster than you can yell 'AARP!' " said Dasbach. "Why is the government's Ponzi Scheme, where new investors are paid with money from old investors, not shut down like any other criminal pyramid scheme would be?"

7. Attorney General Janet Reno. Crime: Conspiracy to commit murder. "Not even the Mafia would do what Janet Reno ordered done on April 19, 1993: Assault a religious compound with tanks, military helicopters, and poison gas," said Dasbach. "Yet that's what happened in Waco, Texas -- killing 69 men, women, and children. Son of Sam is in jail for committing serial murder: Why isn't Janet Reno?"

8. FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi. Crime: Murder. "In 1992, Horiuchi used a high-powered rifle to assassinate Vicki Weaver in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, as she stood in her kitchen holding her 11-month-old infant daughter," said Dasbach. "You may not like the political views of her husband, white separatist Randy Weaver, but that shouldn't have given government employees the right to declare open season on his family."

9. Drug czar Barry McCaffrey. Crime: Kidnapping, false imprisonment. "Under McCaffrey's direction, 695,200 people were arrested in 1997 for marijuana offenses, 87% of whom were accused of mere possession," noted Dasbach. "For this victimless crime, these people were arrested at gunpoint, dumped into jail cells, and deprived of their liberty -- while millions of violent criminals were allowed to run free. That's the real crime."

10. U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum (R-FL). Crime: Illegal telephone tapping. "Last year, McCollum inserted a roving wiretap provision into the Intelligence Authorization Act of 1998 -- giving federal agents the power to eavesdrop on anyone's phone calls without a court order," said Dasbach. "Unauthorized eavesdropping is a crime: Let's prosecute Rep. McCollum for it."

So, do Libertarians think any of these government "criminals" will ever end up behind bars?

"Perhaps not," admitted Dasbach. "But it's nice to dream about an America where equal justice under the law is a reality. And if nothing else, if would be nice if some of these most wanted criminals became some of America's least wanted politicians."

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